An important goal in playing sports is to win. Often that means proper play execution, good ball control, good grip and feel, and proper form in the sports fundamentals. Gloves and other types of hand covers are permitted in most sports. Many individuals use gloves to enhance, in some way, their competitive edge. Indeed, gloves have become so important that different types of gloves have been uniquely created for different sports. Even within a sport, different types of gloves have been invented to, among other things, maximize performance in specific tasks.
The use of gloves can increase performance especially when the user needs to grip an object like a golf club, for example.
When playing the sport of Golf this ability to create and maintain a solid grip is critical when swinging a golf club especially since, when one prepares to swing the golf club, he (or she) must use his hands both to grip as well as ‘feel’ the golf club throughout the golf swing.
This ability to both grip and feel is important when swinging a golf club. Once a golfer begins to swing a golf club, the golfer cannot not lose sight of the golf ball until impact occurs with the golf ball. Consequently, the golfer must use tactile sensations to feel if the golf club is on the correct swing plane throughout the golf swing.
The use of gloves in golf however is critical as most golf pros will agree, the most important factor in a good golf swing is the ability to have a solid grip on the golf club; a good golf grip. It's the fundamental keystone to a good golf swing.
Thus, golfers have generally decided to wear only one glove, on their weak hand, thereby increasing the overall grip of the weak hand golf glove and thus foregoing a glove on their strong (dominant) hand to compensate for the loss of tactile sensation from wearing a glove on their weak-hand.
Conventional golf gloves are generally full fingered leather gloves, many with a grip enhancing surface on the palmar portion of these gloves. Some of these gloves also provide elastic inserts along the knuckles for added flexibility or micro recesses along the finger segments of the dorsal portion of these gloves.
Although generally useful, using prior art conventional golf gloves can come with significant drawbacks, especially because a user must use his or her hands as one cohesive unit throughout a golf swing.
Several authorities have cited the importance of the golfer's two hands forming a cohesive structural unit along the golf club, so they can function as a single club-gripping agent. This is so important that the two most popular golf grip methods, the interlocking grip method and the overlapping grip method, place the hands right next to each other to better create this unitary hand golf swing.
As will be discussed, prior art gloves are not configured to support this desire to unify the golfer's two hands, and many gloves actually hinder achieving this objective.
A case in point of prior art limitations occurs, for example, when a golfer desires to swing the golf club with significant velocity.
Quite often a golfer's success requires swinging the golf club in a manner to produce significant club speed, especially when teeing off at the beginning of each hole. As the velocity of the golf club increases, it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain a firm, though not tight, grip on the club; this is especially true on the downswing through the point of impact with the golf ball. Consider the fact that the average clubhead speed of all eight competitors in the 2013 RE/MAX Golf World Long Drive Competition was well over 100 miles per hour; these golfers especially rely on a good grip to control the golf club so that the club face will be square at impact with the golf ball.
Prior art shortcomings create a challenge to have a consistent swing, especially when swinging a golf club at these high speeds. Clearly, one reason for this has to do with not sustaining the ability to keep one's hands together throughout the golf swing, especially when transitioning from the backswing to the downswing, as well as at—and through—impact with the golf ball. The result, of course, has often resulted in several problems such as: difficulty in weak-hand and dominant hand coordination because one hand unhinges quicker than the other hand; difficulty in being able to control the golf club face through impact, and; the dominant hand's pinkie finger slipping from contacting the weak hand. As a consequence, the golf club face may not be square at impact, resulting in a slice or hook.
Another prior art limitation relates to those golfers choosing to grip a golf club using the popular Interlocked Grip Method.
When one uses this grip the forefinger of the golfer's gloved weak hand is placed over and wrapped around the strong hand's ungloved pinkie finger.
With this grip, clearly the role of the interlocked fingers have as much to do with grip as they do with coordination between the user's two hands to more effectively control the golf swing and to provide greater overall golf swing consistency.
A golfer's ungloved strong hand has improved tactile sensations by the rest of the fingers being placed on the golf club. Additionally, these ungloved fingers can still grip the golf club relatively well due to the grip enhancers along the golf club handle itself.
However, no improvements have been made to increase the grip of the strong hand's interlocked or overlapped pinkie finger, which is ungloved, a vital ingredient to maximizing overall hand coordination and golf swing.
An additional major drawback of prior art has to do with a lack of grip enhancers where the ungloved pinkie finger resides around the gloved forefinger. The dorsal segment is not currently configured with this in mind, often actually providing a rather slippery dorsal segment, making it more difficult for the ungloved hand to grip and better coordinate with the gloved weak hand throughout the golf swing.
Embodiments of the present invention will certainly find success with those using the interlocking grip method as well by properly configuring gloves to address this issue.
According to the website Golfsmith.com, many golfers choose the interlocking grip instead of the overlapping grip method: because they desire greater unity in their golf swing, because they have relatively smaller hands, or because they have weaker hands and need added grip. Thus, providing even greater overall grip potential for those using the interlocking grip method, as the present invention provides, would certainly be welcome. “A common reason players choose one grip over another is their desire to create unity between their hands. When you swing your club, your wrists act as a hinge. However, if your hands become separated during the swing, each wrist can act separately and your hands can interfere with each other.”
There is therefore a long existing need for a glove that can offer better hand coordination between a golfer's strong hand and weak hand without significantly diminishing a golfer's ability to adequately grip the golf club.
An ideal location to minimize hand separation is clearly around and between the two interlocked fingers in the case of the interlocked method, or around and between the overlapped fingers, in the case of the overlapped method.
Another prior art limitation relates to those golfers choosing to grip a golf club using the popular Overlapping Grip Method.
Currently, the ungloved strong hand's pinkie finger has no real targeted, stable material where it could reasonably maintain a firm hold as a golf club moves over 100 miles per hour, through impact. Prior art dorsal segments—the back of gloves—are intended for protection and without recognition of the need for providing some added grip support.
Consequently, users with prior art golf gloves will have an unstable pinkie finger grip, especially when dealing with moisture through harsh climate or from perspiration on the pinkie finger. This slipping, even slight, can result in some separation or delay in hand motion; the results would of course be detrimental on a golfer's score card.
When a golfer hits a slice, for example, the golf ball flies to the far outside (far right for a right-handed golfer or far left for a left-handed golfer).
A slice can take place for several reasons. One reason has to do with the dominant hand not moving at the same rate and angle as the weak hand during a golf swing, or not unhinging at the same time. If there is even the slightest separation between the two hands during the golf swing, the club face will not be square at impact; the resulting open face impact will inevitably result in a slice.
Embodiments of the present invention would therefore offer significant improvements to prior art by offering strategically placed grip enhancing improvements to gloves tailored for users who grip a golf club using one's preferred golf grip method, including the overlapping golf grip method. These improvements will include a grip enhancing means along the dorsal portion or along the side of the golf glove, thereby providing a user's dominant hand pinkie finger to maintain solid grip on the weak hand; the result will of course significantly enhance a golfer's golf swing success by better allowing the two hands to have a coordinated, unified golf swing.
More broadly, providing a more strategic grip management system will create a firmer contact between the fingers of both hands, and therefore a more controlled golf swing for those using the interlocking or overlapping grip methods.
An additional glove configuration deficiency along its dorsal segment has to do the way these gloves channel moisture accumulation from the gloved hand. Most conventional golf gloves, for example, have ventilation recesses along the dorsal portion of the digital segments including on the forefinger segment, which of course can be counterproductive and problematic especially when gripping a golf club using the interlocking grip or overlapping grip methods (see FIGS. 10 and 16).
Conventional golf gloves provide recesses on the proximal phalanx of the forefinger which channel perspiration to this area, albeit small amounts. Undoubtedly this is problematic because the strong hand's ungloved pinkie finger interlocks and often resides over the weak hand's gloved forefinger's proximal phalanx. Intentionally trying to channel moisture to this interlocked area will clearly cause unnecessary slipping between the two interlocked fingers and further hinder the user's ability to perform a unified, coordinated golf swing. These prior art configurations can also cause significant challenges to those using the overlapping grip method for similar reasons.
Solving this unrecognized problem, as embodiments of the present invention provide, will significantly enhance consistent golf swing control especially as a golfer begins to perspire from wearing a golf glove. Some embodiments, for example, include a forefinger segment without any moisture management recesses along the proximal phalanx on the forefinger segment or along select portions of the middle finger segment, where the strong hand's pinkie finger usually rests on the weak hand when using the overlapping grip method, for example.
Providing a solution to better solve these issues could, among other things, allow for greater golf swing control and consistency by providing a golfer with significantly enhanced support for a golfer's hand grip and coordination requirements.
The present invention solves the above mentioned problems by, among other things, providing significant improvements to grip support on critical areas on or around the interlocked or overlapped fingers.